At the present time it is a well known problem that many high rise buildings are higher than can be reached by facilities available to the local fire fighting officials, and in cases of fire and/or earthquakes in such buildings, other means of access to the higher stories of the building must be used or the fire must be left, with often disastrous results to both the building and people who may be trapped above the fire.
It is a well known fact that when fighting a fire in a taller building, it is important that any fire fighting techniques are better used from above the fire than from below the fire and it is therefore of the utmost importance if it is at all possible in practical terms, that fire fighting equipment and personnel be able to reach upper stories of a high rise building.
The difficulty is of course the problem of finding means which are both economical in a practical sense and at the same time are reliable.